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There I was starting my second year of college with all of my life planned out in front of me, not letting anything change my plans, not even my type 1 diabetes. I had a plan to be a doctor, continue volunteering as a counselor at a camp for children with type 1 diabetes, and not letting anyone tell me otherwise. Until one day that all changed when someone very near and dear to me told me I need to attend a conference for young adults with type 1.

At first I was taken aback, attending a conference for type ones to gain more support just seemed so unneeded. Did people think I needed support? Did I seem like I needed help? I still do not know, to this day, the answer to those questions but I do know that attending that conference changed my life.

In 2012, I attended my first young adults conference for type ones called, DTreat and there I found my best friend. I learned so much more about myself than I could have imagined. I went in hesitant but came out with so many new friends and ideals on my diabetes. We learned about things like alcohol, stress, and relationships. Along with meeting some really cool people like Iron Andy! DTreat had changed me into a new diabetic and a new person with so much more perspective on life with and without my diabetes.

While there I learned way more about myself than one could imagine. I learned that I have a deep love for diabetes education and support. Needing support does not need you need help or are struggling but really its just a free pass to be friends over a common life struggle that then can form into so much more. Now days all of my close friends are diabetics that I have met through programs like DTreat. I went from being that girl who had diabetes but didn’t let it be overly known to that girl who is diabetes. Everything I do generally has some relation to diabetes; bettering my care, planning a program, seeing my diabesties, training a diabetic alert dog, and many others.

Since then I have been to many more leadership and young adult conferences for type ones that have shaped me and made me question my life plans like no one could believe. Some of those have included Students With Diabetes, DLead, and more Dtreat conferences. And yes if you can imagine that girl who started her sophomore year to become a doctor as mentioned in the beginning of this article has changed her major 5 times since then. I will now be graduating in May with a public health degree and starting my master in public health leadership degree in August. That girl who wanted to be a doctor now wants to create programs nationwide for all young adults with chronic diseases.

I have turned a negative connotation of ‘diabetic support’ into my life goals to help every young adult have the same opportunity I have had to gain that knowledge that I have gained through young adult conferences. I have grown to be a director of DTreat and could not be any more thrilled to be doing it!

Now it is your turn to experience this great conference in the way I have, not because “people think I needed support” or “you seem like you need help”. Attend because you deserve to come grow yourself and meet incredible others just like you, dealing with their disease everyday like you do, and not letting it hold them back one bit!! DTreat 2015 will be July 10-12th in Boise, Idaho. Find out more at www.hodia.org/events.

2. I call my father by his first name, Lloyd. Strange I know, but over the years our relationship has evolved to that it is not out of disrespect but a bond.

1. I have three tattoos that most people have no idea about (they’re all on my feet) and I plan to get many more.

0. Shush I know there’s now 0 in a countdown but just wait there is a purpose to this. I am a type one diabetic and have been for 18 years. This used to be one of the biggest facts about me, at least I thought. Now I am realizing that it isn’t a fact about me. I have many many other more important attributes. Diabetes has made me strong and shaped me but it is not me. I for awhile now have been dealing with how hard it is and how bad it sucks and referring to myself as ‘broken’. It took a good friend of mine getting upset and saying to my face “You’re not broken and stop saying that it pisses me off!” For me to realize she is right.

So moral of the story: Whatever you might be battling there are a thousand other facts about you that are way more important and predominant! Don’t let the shitty stuff hold you down, you are not broken, you are beautiful!!

How many people do you know that on January 1st say all of the cliched “I’m giving up drinking”, “I’m gong to start working out” “…eat healthier”,”…write in a journal”,”….blah,blah,blah….” Well, how weak minded of them to think that they need the start of a new year to achieve any of their extreme dramatic goals. Our goals can start at any point, we don’t need a specific date like the first of a new year to become the person we want to be.

Do you know how many firsts there are in the year? Lets break it down

1 1st of the year

12 1sts of the months

52 1sts of the weeks

365 1sts of the days (366 if its a leap year)

So if you need a legitimate “1st of something” to start up a new workout program, challenge, job, life goal, ect. I just gave you over 400 of them. However if you’re really dedicated to the new you, you shouldn’t need a “1st”!

You are strong enough to do it right now! Put down that cookie, look up the closest gym, grab a piece of paper. Start whatever you are putting off right now, you can do it!!!

Some people say that is takes 21 days to form a habit but I think that if your goals are strong enough it will just be your shear drive that will keep you going on throughout the days. Put the gym in your schedule everyday, make a meal plan every night, set a reminder to write in a journal everyday, or say hello to the first person you see at the coffee shop every morning. Everyday you will be one step closer to meeting your goals and being that better person. By the end of it you won’t remember if you started on the 1st of January or if it was in the middle of the year, if it was a Monday or a Thursday. All you will remember is that you transformed into a newer better you. You took that major step that you needed to take and now you are someone you are proud of. You were strong enough to make your goal or resolution. You are amazing!

What is an internship? According to Dictionary.com the definition of an internship is “any period of time during which a beginner acquires experience in an occupation, profession, or pursuit: She had a long internship before starting her own recording studio.” Under this definition I find almost no similarities to my internship with Bringing Science Home and Student With Diabetes. I find so much more!!

Let me tell you a little about myself and then more about my story involving Students With Diabetes. I am a 19 year old junior in college at Boise State University in Idaho. I am studying to become a physician assistant and will probably go to a graduate degree program somewhere in Utah or Colorado. I was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 8 months young. With getting this rough disease at such a young age I have never known anything different. Diabetes has shaped a lot of who I am and where I want to go in life. It is one of the reasons I want to be a PA.

I have been involved with many different diabetes organizations throughout my life starting of course with JDRF others also include DTreat, Iron Andy Foundation, and Team Novo. But my heart and soul goes into Idaho Diabetes Youth Programs and Camp Hodia. This will be my fifth summer on staff as a counselor at their 3 summer camps. This year am also delighted to say I am the new craft director (which actually is a lot more work than it would seem). During the none camping season I volunteer by educating families, writing grants, and marketing IDYP. This is how I found Students with Diabetes and met Nicole Johnson.

One of my talents some might say is marketing. I have been a marketing intern and also was the main Internet marketing planner for a major cooperation, TapouT XT. This has now lead me to have a very successful online marketing business which involves Facebook, SEO, Blogs and anything else you can think of would be on the internet. This is part two on how I go to be an intern for Students With Diabetes.

Students with Diabetes runs this amazing internship program and right when I saw the application I knew I wanted to apply!! I have always wanted to know more about how to work in the diabetes field without a medical license and this seemed like the right option! And boy have I been surprised and educated every step of the way!! I applied for anything in the marketing area because that was a skill I knew I already had and was too nervous to branch out farther. I was then interviewed multiple times and offered to be Nicole’s personal intern to help her with marketing and promotion of Students with Diabetes and the national conference. I started in Late April and have loved every project they have thrown at me from Facebook to marketing plans. Their leadership conference was by far one of the most educational things I have ever attended! It really showed me all the options there are to be in the diabetes world! I also have made incredible friends and connects that I know I will be able to use the rest of my life!

So this internship has not only brought me what dictionary.com says “a beginner should acquire experience in an occupation, profession, or pursuit” but also relationships that will last forever, connections diabetes world, and a greater knowledge on who people handle their diabetes to a better pursuit!

I am so lucky to have been given this internship! It has thought me more than another internship in the world could have. I am counting down the days till the next Students With Diabetes National Conference!